𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚎 | 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎

ｏｎｅ

eddie kaspbrak could think of a lot of not-so-nice words to describe richie tozier. annoying, was one that came to mind. annoying, loud, and so unfunny that it almost looped right back around to being hilarious. sat right next to him in english, the first thing richie had said to eddie was some "ur mom" joke, the kind eddie had never found funny.

richie had continually tried to talk to him for a week, going as far as giving eddie nicknames that made him so mad, he thought he might explode.

"my name is eddie, not eds," he'd remind richie for the thirtieth time that period.

"sorry, eds. honest mistake. won't happen again."

one of these days, eddie was going to kill him.

richie had coke bottle glasses, the kind with square frames and lenses so thick Eddie wondered how he could even see. that wasn't the only thing that Eddie wondered about, though. sometimes, during a particularly boring math lesson, he'd catch himself thinking about shaggy black hair and dark brown eyes. richie's eyes.

he would remind himself that he hated richie. he had to hate richie. that was the only reason his stomach seemed to flutter when richie called him eds. they were angry butterflies, wasps if you will. they buzzed around his stomach, stingers out, making eddie feel things he wasn't supposed to- didn't feel.

eddie hated richie.

***

there was a new pill today. eddie was used to taking them, he already took five (three were vitamins, one was for allergies, and the other was iron), but something about this one caught his interest. it was a standard pill, one end light green and the other cream, but the thing that caught his attention was its size.

the pill was massive. twice the size of two of Eddie's vitamin pills, and those were already medium-sized. he wondered how he'd even be able to choke it down.

"momma," he asked quietly, "what's this one for?"

sonia kaspbrak turned from where she was scrambling eggs at the stove to look at eddie, who was sitting at the kitchen table.

"oh, those?" she hummed, "just vitamin C, dear."

"but I already take vitamin c," he reminded her, "that's what the pink one is."

seeming irked now, she set down her spatula roughly, making eddie jump.

"eddie bear, just take it. stop arguing with me."

"sorry momma, " he muttered.

he tossed the cocktail of medication into his mouth, taking a swig of orange juice and quickly swallowing them down. he looked at the green and cream pill, too big to take with all the others. something about it made his stomach turn over, or maybe that was just all the other pills in his gut.

eddie grabbed the bigger pill, planning to swiftly swallow it with the little bit of orange juice left in his glass, but as he popped it in his mouth, he nearly gagged. it tasted awful. like sewer water mixed with old, raw meat. faster than intended, he washed it down with his orange juice, feeling it stick in his throat. he wanted to cough it back up. instead, he took another drink of his juice, and felt the pill slide down his throat and into his stomach.

He wondered what had made the vitamin c taste so bad, but decided he didn't want to bother his momma about it, she was already frustrated with him. eddie slung his backpack over his shoulder, kissed his momma on the cheek, and walked out the front door.

as he sat down next to richie in english, dreading the awful jokes he would have to endure today, he could've sworn he felt the pill somewhere deep in his stomach, a weight too heavy to lift.